Nonobstructing escape slide

ABSTRACT

An escape slide has an inflatable fabric frame assembly supporting a slide surface defined by a taut fabric membrane. The lower end of the assembly supports the membrane in spaced relation over at least the middle portion of the lower member which joins and spaces apart the inflatable side beam members of the assembly, so that the membrane may be depressed by masses sliding thereon without interference or &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;bump&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; by the lower joining member.

i United States Patent Inventor Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Clarence S. Melander Neptune, NJ.

July 25, 1969 July 27, 197 l The Garrett Corporation Los Augeles, Calif.

NONOBSTRUCTING ESCAPE SLIDE 6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 193/25, 193/25 A Int. Cl. r. B65g 11/10 Field orswch l93/25,25 B, 250; 244/137 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,470,991 10/1969 Holcombe 193/25 B 3,473,641 10/1969 Fischer 193/25 B Primary Examiner-Andres H. Nielsen Attorneys-Orville R. Seidner and John N. Hazelwood ABSTRACT: An escape slide has an inflatable fabric frame assembly supporting a slide surface defined by a taut fabric membrane. The lower end of the assembly supports the membrane in spaced relation over at least the middle portion of the lower member which joins and spaces apart the inflatable side beam members of the assembly, so that the membrane may be depressed by masses sliding thereon without interference or bump by the lower joining member.

PATENTED JUL2 1 Ian INVIZN'I'UR. CLARENCE S. MELANDER Maw AGENT NONOBSTRUCTING ESCAPE SLIDE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the prior art, it has been customary to provide inflatable escape slides with a slide surface defined by a fabric membrane stretched taut over or between fluid distensible, flexible-walled, fiuid-trussed beam members formed into a frame assembly. According to usual practice, the beam members at the sides of the assembly and the upper and lower end members which secure the side beam members in spaced apart relationship are of generally tubular configuration when inflated, with all inflated assembly members being of substantially equal and uniform cross-sectional area. The membrane may be disposed in a taut condition to form a plane surface across the top of the assembly or it may be disposed partially or wholly below the plane of the top. Usually the upper end of the membrane wraps partially around the top surface of the upper end frame member, and has its longitudinal edges secured to the side beam members, with the membrane dipping down concavely along its longitudinal axis whereafter it rises up to have its lower end wrap partially around the top surface of the lower end frame member.

With this arrangement the upper portion, say the upper onethird of the slide surface, is disposed at a slightly steeper angle than the slide apparatus proper, and the lower portion, say the lower one-third, is disposed at a slightly flatter angle to the ground upon which the lower end rests. This is desirable in that it tends to enhance the initial acceleration component of gravity acting on the bodies entering upon the upper end of the slide, and to decrease the component just prior to debarking from the slide.

It will be appreciated, of course, that when a body is disposed on the membrane, the mass of the body causes local concave depressions in the membrane portions that are supported only by attachment of the side edges to the side beam members. The depression is quite pronounced under the seat of the body and only somewhat less under the outstretched legs and feet. The depression exists only under the body as it slides from the upper to the lower end ofthe slide, hence a sort of traveling concavity exists with the sliding body. The depression, or concavity, is negligible at the ends where the membrane overlies the upper and lower end frame members, by reason of the fluid pressure in the members.

It has now been discovered that a serious problem arises by virtue of this last mentioned fact.

As a body slides down the membrane, the legs are outstretched with the feet usually upstanding and the back of the calcaneus or heel bone of each foot causing high local pressure on the membrane at the points of contact of the heels with the membrane. This can be visualized by poking a finger, for instance, into an inflated balloon. The concave depression thus caused by the feet is travelling down the slide as aforesaid, until the bottoms of the heels of the feet encounter the lower end frame member.

Since the inflated frame member resists further travel of the concavity or concavities under the feet, and since the bottoms of the heels of the sliding feet have encountered what almost amounts to an immovable wall, it is now seen that the encounter by the heels of the feet with a barrier results in the transmission of a high deceleration braking force through the outstretched legs to the lower torso of the body. As a consequence, the sliding body then tends to upset and catapult over the lower end of the slide.

The present invention provides a solution to this potentially dangerous problem by a novel configuration and proportioning of the lower end frame members and by its'relationship to the membrane so as to effect the objects ofthe invention,

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a general object of the invention to provide a slide apparatus having a sliding surface membrane supported in taut condition by an elastic fluid inflated frame with the lower surface of the membrane spaced above an underlying frame member. It is a more particular object to provide apparatus in which the side edges of the membrane are secured to the longitudinally disposed inflated side beam members of the frame, with the upper surface of the middle portion of the lower end member of the frame being spaced apart from the lower surface of the overlying membrane portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a schematic illustration,'in perspective, of an escape slide utilizing the invention;

I FIG. 2 is a cross section view taken along the longitudinal center line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross section view taken along the transverse line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross section view similar to FIG. 3, showing schematically an alternate embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a cross section view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross section view similar to FIG. 3, showing schematically yet another embodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a cross section view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1 an escape slide 10 is shown as having its upper end 12 disposed adjacent an elevated egress opening 14 in a structure shown fragmentarily by the reference numeral 16. It will be appreciated that the structure 16 may be fixed permanent structure such as building or a portable or a movable structure such as an aircraft.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lower end 18 of the slide 10 is deployed and positioned, in 'a manner described hereinafter, adjacent a ground plane (not shown) disposed at a lower elevation than the bottom of the opening 14.

The slide 10 is comprised of an inflatable fabric frame assembly 20 and a fabric membrane 22 which is secured to the assembly 20 preferably in a fairly taut condition when the assembly 20 is inflated so as to provide a slide surface for persons exiting from the opening 14 to the ground plane. The frame assembly 20 comprises elongate side beam members 24 and 26 spaced apart by upper and lower end joining members 28 and 30, respectively. The beam members 24 and 26 and the joining members 28 and 30 are configured as generally tubular in form formed of flexible-walled, fluid distensible material members to provide a frame which upon inflation by a compressible fluid deploys outwardly from a folded and stowed location (not shown) adjacent the egress opening 14 to form a substantially rigid fluid-trussed frame to support the membrane 22 in fairly stretched and taut condition.

The membrane 22 is secured at its upper end to the upper member 28 and its side edges are secured to the beam members 24 and 26, all attachments being effected by releasable fasteners, or by sewing or by cementing as preferred, all such attaching methods being well-known in the art. If desired, the membrane 22 may be secured by being stretched as a substantially flat sheet across the top surfaces of the members 24, 26, 28 and 30 of the frame assembly 20.

Preferably, however, the membrane 22 is somewhat concavely disposed with its upper end portion 32 stretched across, and with a partial wraparound on, the upper joining member 28, whereafter the integral intermediate portion 34 drops off below the plane of the upper surface of the assembly 20 and thereafter rises up to the lower end portion 36, which is stretched taut between the side beam members 24 and 26 so as to overlie the lower end joining member 30, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The beam members 24 and 26, and the upper joining member 28, are of substantially uniform cross section throughout their lengths, and are substantially equal to each other in cross sectional areas. On the other hand, the lower joining member 30 has a novel configuration wherein its ends are of substantially the same area in cross section as the members 24 and 26, but tapering or curving to a smaller cross section area at its middle portion 38 so as to define a space between the upper surface of the middle portion 38 and the under surface of the overlying lower end portion 36 of the membrane 22. Therein lies the novelty and essence of the invention, inasmuch as the lower joining member 30, when inflated, constitutes a fairly rigid fluid-trussed member (along with the fluid-trussed beam members 24 and 26) whereas the fabric membrane 22 has some measure of resilient stretchability which permits it to be concavely depressed to some extent by masses disposed and sliding thereon in the escaping function, as illustrated by the dashed lines 40 on FIGS. 2 and 3. Hence the lower member 30 offers no resistance to the concave depression of the lower end portion 36 of the membrane 22 by any mass sliding along the membrane substantially along a course midway between the side beam members 24 and 26. As a consequence, there is little or no bump" of the sliding mass by the member 30 as the mass passes thereover. Preferably, the member 30 is configured and fabricated such that the distance between the upper surface of the middle portion 38 of the member 30 and the lower surface of the lower end portion 36 of the membrane 22 is of the order of about 2 inches. It is apparent, of course, that this distance may vary, depending on the spacing of the beam members 24 and 26, the materials utilized in fabrication of the various members and the membrane 22, the fluid pressure in the various inflatable members, and other variables encountered in design, development and fabrication of apparatus of this general type.

In FIGS. 4-7 there are shown variations of the member 30 from the configuration of FIGS. 2 and 3. ln FIGS. 4 and 5 the cylindrical lower joining member 30' is illustrated as being of a uniform area in cross section somewhat less than that of the joined members 24 and 26, with the lower face of he member 30' projecting in a plane with the lower faces of the members 24 and 26. With this arrangement the upper face surface of the member 30' is stepped down uniformly throughout the length of the member 30' below the membrane 22.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 the joining member 30" is comprised of a pair of frustoconical elements 42 and 44 having their smaller ends joined at the midportion of member 30" and their larger ends joined to the beam members 24 and 26, respectively. The midportion of member 30" is disposed in spaced relationship to the under surface of the membrane 22, in similar fashion to that of the other embodiments.

lclaim: 1. Deployable apparatus defining a slide chute having one end adapted to being disposed adjacent an elevated egress opening and the other end deployably positionable adjacent a ground plane at an elevation below that of the egress opening, comprising:

a. a frame assembly having a pair of side beam members spaced apart by upper and lower joining members adjacent the ends of said beam members; and b. a membrane secured to said frame assembly to provide a slide surface from said egress opening to said ground plane, the lower end portion of said membrane being resiliently disposed in substantially taut condition across the top surfaces of the lower end of said beam members,

said lower joining member having an upper surface facing toward the under surface of said lower end portion of said membrane,

said lower joining member being configured such that said upper surface thereof defines a space between a middle portion of said lower member and said under surface of said lower end portion of said membrane.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said frame assembly beam members are inflatable fluid distensible truss members with said upper joining member fixedly positionable adjacent said egress opening upon inflation of said frame assembly beam members.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which said frame assembly side beam and lower joining members are substantially tubular when deployed.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said substantially tubular lower joining member decreases in cross section from its ends to its said middle portion.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said lower joining member is substantially cylindrical in configuration.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said lower joining member defines substantially two frustoconical member portions with their larger ends secured to said side beam members and their smaller ends to each other at substantially the midpoint along the axis ofsaid lower joining member. 

1. Deployable apparatus defining a slide chute having one end adapted to being disposed adjacent an elevated egress opening and the other end deployably positionable adjacent a ground plane at an elevation below that of the egress opening, comprising: a. a frame assembly having a pair of side beam members spaced apart by upper and lower joining members adjacent the ends of said beam members; and b. a membrane secured to said frame assembly to provide a slide surface from said egress opening to said ground plane, the lower end portion of said membrane being resilientlY disposed in substantially taut condition across the top surfaces of the lower end of said beam members, said lower joining member having an upper surface facing toward the under surface of said lower end portion of said membrane, said lower joining member being configured such that said upper surface thereof defines a space between a middle portion of said lower member and said under surface of said lower end portion of said membrane.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which said frame assembly beam members are inflatable fluid distensible truss members with said upper joining member fixedly positionable adjacent said egress opening upon inflation of said frame assembly beam members.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which said frame assembly side beam and lower joining members are substantially tubular when deployed.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said substantially tubular lower joining member decreases in cross section from its ends to its said middle portion.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said lower joining member is substantially cylindrical in configuration.
 6. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said lower joining member defines substantially two frustoconical member portions with their larger ends secured to said side beam members and their smaller ends to each other at substantially the midpoint along the axis of said lower joining member. 